Harley Benton HBMA-50 Mandoline VS

So I had this thing for about two weeks and then suddenly the neck started coming away. Since then I've had it sitting around for nearly 5 years until I decided to see if I could get it fixed. What I found was that unlike I'd feared, the neck was not in fact broken, but that it just hadn't been glued in sufficiently and had simply started coming away at the joint. I suppose they thought that the string tension would be enough to hold it in, not banking on the moment effect of the strings pulling the joint upwards. Anyway, I fixed it with a fair amount of wood glue and now it seems to be great. I guess it's only cheap and now I've got a perfectly working mandolin, but it's still a little annoying and not what I expect from Thomman's stuff, which is usually top notch. Also the way the strings are strung on the bridge makes them really fiddly to replace because you have to get a certain amount of tension on them before they'll stay on.
So would I recommend it? Honestly, I think even with the neck problems it's worth it for the price. Just make sure to have some wood glue and clamps ready...

For just under 60? you definitely get your moneys worth but that's pretty much it. My first impression was disappointment. The stock strings it ships with sounded horrible and I was barely able to tune it when it came out of the box. After changing to some pretty cheap 15? strings and adjusting the bridge a bit the sound quality was much better.

Sadly, my mandolin shipped with some dents and scratches including a sharp STAPLE sticking out of the first fret on the neck which would prick my finger when playing. That's not okay but just slightly not worth the effort of sending it back..

I'll recommend this for people who want a rough-and-tumble Mandolin for taking on trips and adventures.

If you are a beginner I'd recommend looking a bit higher up on the price list, it'll be worth it!

First of all, this Mandoline looks really great! But it came in with really rusty strings and covered by dust. It was kinda dirty and not in good shape. Instrument itself for this price is good, but at first i was really put off by the state it came in, almost like B-stock which lied in some warehouse for long time, but it was cheap so i was not dealing with it.
Sound is probably good, i cant really tell, never had any other mandoline, but i guess for someone who wants any mandoline or who wants to just try it, its good starting point. But dont expect something amazing, but thats understandable for this price.